My laptop's realtek audio was able to simulate a speaker set with my headphones. By this I mean that it knew that in a real surround speaker set, both ears would actually hear a sound playing from only the right speaker, so it played a lower volume from the left earpiece for sounds that software told it to come out of only the right speaker. It would do this only when I selected "Headphones" from the popup that appears when I connect my headphones, however.
I've recently built a new desktop machine, and it does not perform this functionality, and I do not know how to enable it, because the headphones popup doesn't come up.
Spec comparison:
- Laptop
- Windows 8.1
- Drivers from 2012
- Unsure about hardware
- Desktop
- Windows 7
- Tried most recent drivers from Realtek and from MB manufacturer
- Motherboard is Asrock 97ZM OC Formula